Baryshnikov Arts Center to Continue Anniversary Season with Three Concerts

New York, NY - The Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) continues its 10th anniversary celebratory season with three concerts in April, reflecting BAC's expanded series of music programming for 2015. The weeklong celebration begins Monday, April 6 at 7:30pm, with one of BAC's signature events - a BAC Salon - in the Howard Gilman Performance Space, featuring the chamber music of Berio, Cage, and Mozart in an intimate salon setting. On Wednesday, April 8 at 7:30pm, composer and jazz pianist Stephen Prutsman will perform the entirety of his album Passengers for the first time ever, in another BAC Salon in the Howard Gilman Performance Space. The final performance of the week, on Saturday, April 11 at 8pm in the Jerome Robbins Theater, features the Latvian National Choir, hailing from BAC Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov's birthplace of Riga and bringing to New York a program that includes music by Arvo Pärt, Grammy nominee Ugis Praulins, and the U.S. premieres of works by acclaimed Latvian composers Jekabs Janchevskis, Gundega Smite, and Raimonds Tiguls. The Latvian National Choir last appeared in New York as part of the 2010 White Light Festival at Lincoln Center, in performances The New York Times described as "ravishing."

Pedja Muzijevic, BAC Artistic Administrator, says "We are particularly happy to have such variety of music at BAC within one week - chamber music spanning almost 200 years, a solo jazz piano concert and an a cappella choir program from one of the great choral traditions of the world."

BAC Salon: Berio, Cage, Mozart
Monday, April 6 at 7:30pm
Howard Gilman Performance Space
Watch: http://bit.ly/WatchMuzijevic

Five acclaimed musicians: James Austin Smith, oboe; Tessa Lark, violin; Max Mandel, viola; Edward Arron, cello; and Pedja Muzijevic, piano, come together for a program featuring one of Mozart's chamber masterworks, his Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478, and music by iconic 20th century composers Luciano Berio (Sequenza VII for oboe) and John Cage ("Winter" and "Spring" from The Seasons for piano).

BAC Salon is a series of concerts presented in a salon setting, without a division between stage and auditorium. This series takes music written for intimate spaces, jazz and classical alike, back to its natural setting. BAC also strives to make live music more integrated in everyday lives of busy New Yorkers by presenting these hourlong programs with refreshments, no intermission, and keeping ticket prices affordable.

BAC Salon: Stephen Prutsman, jazz piano, performing Passengers
Wednesday, April 8 at 7:30pm
Howard Gilman Performance Space
Watch: http://bit.ly/WatchPrutsman

Pianist and composer Stephen Prutsman, who moves effortlessly across music of many idioms, turns his formidable talents to jazz, performing his 2013 album Passengers for the first time in its entirety. Of Passengers, Prutsman says, "Taken as a whole, this all-piano evening visits and links cool jazz, pulsating sambas, an impressionistic passacaglia, funk from the 1970s and bit of post-Second Viennese neo-romanticism, all to create one thought-provoking and moving musical journey. Think Ravel meets Bill Evans, Richard Strauss meets Irving Berlin, Bootsy meets J.S. Bach."

The music on the album was inspired by a revelatory time for Prutsman, as he came to terms with his son's autism. "The most important decision I could make in my life was to find a way to always enjoy my time with him," Prutsman said. "My hope is that Passengers will suggest to others that despite the myriad of musical languages we speak, in the end we all are trying to live the great truth: To find for ourselves and share with others a meaningful musical narrative of love, grace, hope, joy and compassion."

BAC Salon is a series of concerts presented in a salon setting, without a division between stage and auditorium. This series takes music written for intimate spaces, jazz and classical alike, back to its natural setting. BAC also strives to make live music more integrated in everyday lives of busy New Yorkers by presenting these hourlong programs with refreshments, no intermission, and keeping ticket prices affordable.

The Latvian National Choir
Saturday, April 11 at 8pm
Jerome Robbins Theater
Listen: http://bit.ly/LatvianChoirWQXR

The Latvian National Choir, a leading exponent of the great Baltic choral tradition, performs an eclectic program including works by Arvo Pärt, Grammy nominee Ugis Praulins, and three U.S. premieres of works by acclaimed Latvian composers Jekabs Janchevskis, Gundega Smite, and Raimonds Tiguls.

In 2017, the Latvian National Choir celebrates its 75th anniversary, and is in high demand among the choirs of Europe. Since 1997 the artistic director and chief conductor of the choir has been M?ris Sirmais. In recent years, the choir has collaborated with the leading symphonic orchestras of Germany, Finland, Singapore, Israel, Greece, Switzerland, the U.S., Estonia, Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, and with prominent conductors including Maris Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Andris Nelsons, Neeme Järvi, Pavo Järvi, David Zinman, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Simone Young and many others. The choir is a seven-time receiver of the Great Music Award of Latvia and in 2003 the Choir was presented with the Award of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia. In 2007 it was given the Award of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. In 2013 the choir won the National Recording Award in classical music category.

The Latvian National Choir's complete concert program at BAC includes Vytautas Miskinis' O salutaris hostia, Eric Whitacre's Lux Aurumque, Arvo Pärt's The Deer's Cry, Pärt's Which was the Son of, Vaclovas Augustinas' Cantata Domino, Ugis Praulins' Veni Sancte Spiritus, Jekabs Janchevskis' Odplyw (U.S. Premiere), Gundega Smite's Song of stone (U.S. Premiere), Raimonds Tiguls' Nyari gianta (U.S. Premiere), Eriks Esenvalds' Northern Lights, and Veljo Tormis' Ingrian Evenings.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Oboist James Austin Smith is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Chamber Music Society Two), the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Talea Ensemble, Cygnus and Decoda, and is a regular guest of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He is on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and the State University of New York at Purchase, and is co-Artistic Director of Tertulia, a chamber music series that takes place in restaurants around New York City. Smith's festival appearances include Marlboro, Lucerne, Chamber Music Northwest, Schleswig-Holstein, Stellenbosch, Bay Chamber Concerts, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, OK Mozart, Schwetzingen, and Spoleto USA. He has performed with the St. Lawrence, Orion, and Parker string quartets, and recorded for the Nonesuch, Bridge, Mode, and Kairos labels. His debut solo recording "Distance" will be released in early 2015 on South Africa's TwoPianists Record Label.

Violinist Tessa Lark is was winner of the prestigious Naumburg International Violin Award in 2012, and was recently named the Silver Medalist of the 2014 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. She is a recipient of a career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts. At age 13, Lark was soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and has since then performed concerti with orchestras around the world and frequents the concert stage in recitals. A passionate chamber musician, Lark has performed at such summer festivals as the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Yellow Barn, the Perlman Music Program's Chamber Music Workshop and Music@Menlo, and was a top prizewinner in the 2012 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition as part of her piano trio, Modêtre.

Violist Max Mandel is a member of The FLUX quartet and The Knights. He has appeared as Guest Principal Viola with The Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment (London), The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Camerata Bern (Switzerland), and The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. Other group affiliations include ClassNotes, Camerata Nordica (Sweden) and The Smithsonian Chamber Players. Well-versed in historical performance practice, he frequently appears with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Recent festival appearances include the Ojai, Santa Fe, La Jolla, and Moritzburg festivals. He studied at The University of Toronto with Steven Dann and The Juilliard School with Samuel Rhodes. FLUX Quartet's latest album features the work of Morton Feldman on Mode Records. Mr. Mandel's newest venture is a lecture series at Caramoor called Chamber Talk.

Cellist Edward Arron has performed numerous times at Carnegie's Weill and Zankel Halls, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully and Avery Fisher Halls, New York's Town Hall, and the 92nd Street Y, and is a frequent performer at Bargemusic. Festival appearances include Ravinia, Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, BRAVO! Colorado, Tanglewood, Bridgehampton, Spoleto USA, Santa Fe, Seattle Chamber Music, Great Mountains, Charlottesville, Telluride Musicfest, Seoul Spring, Lake Champlain Chamber Music, and Bard Music Festival. He has participated in Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project as well as Isaac Stern's Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounters. Arron began playing the cello at age seven in Cincinnati and continued his studies in New York with Peter Wiley. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Harvey Shapiro. Arron has served on the faculty of New York University since 2009.

Pianist Pedja Muzijevic has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica in Montevideo, Residentie Orkest in The Hague, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Shinsei Nihon Orchestra in Tokyo, and the Zagreb Philharmonic. He has played solo recitals at Alice Tully Hall in New York, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo, MI, Casals Hall and Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile, The Frick Collection in New York, National Gallery in Washington, DC, and many others. His Carnegie Hall concerto debut playing Mozart Concerto K. 503 with Oberlin Symphony and Robert Spano was recorded live and has been released on the Oberlin Music label. Highlights of the 14/15 season include concerts at Bay Chamber Concerts in Maine, solo recital debut at Chicago's Ravinia Festival, returns to Spoleto USA, Toronto Summer Music Academy, Ottawa Chamberfest and Moab Music Festival, as well as performances of the piano duo version of Stravinsky Rite of Spring in Atlanta with Robert Spano, staged by Lauri Stallings. Muzijevic will also return to St. Paul Chamber Orchestra for performances of Frank Martin's Petite symphonie concertante, conducted by Christian Zacharias and is curating a month long residency at Banff Arts Centre in Canada. He will return to Library of Congress in Washington, DC and Mainly Mozart in San Diego, and perform Messiaen Oiseaux exotiques with NOVUS and Grant Gershon at Trinity Wall Street in New York.

Stephen Prutsman was a medal winner at the Tchaikovsky and Queen Elisabeth Piano Competitions, and received the Avery Fisher Career Grant in the early 1990s. He has since performed the classical concerto repertoire as soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestras of San Francisco, Baltimore, Detroit, Indianapolis, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, Prague Radio Symphony, and the Orchestre National d'Île de France. As a composer, Prutsman's long collaboration with the Grammy Award winning Kronos Quartet has resulted in over 40 arrangements and compositions for them. Prutsman has collaborated with many of the world's great string quartets and soloists, including Leon Fleisher, Dawn Upshaw, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, Spoleto USA, and the Silk Road Project. He often performs with his trio Nobilis both in major cultural centers and in diverse locales throughout the developing world. As a pianist/arranger outside of the classical music world he has collaborated with Tom Waits, Rokia Traore, Joshua Redman, Jon Anderson of YES, Sigur Rós, and Asha Bhosle.

ABOUT BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER (BAC)

BAC is the realization of a long-held vision by artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov to build an arts center in Manhattan that would serve as a gathering place for artists from all disciplines. BAC's opening in 2005 heralded the launch of this mission, establishing a thriving creative laboratory and performance space for artists from around the world. BAC's activities encompass a robust residency program augmented by a range of professional services, including commissions of new work, as well as the presentation of performances by artists at varying stages of their careers. In tandem with its commitment to supporting artists, BAC is dedicated to building audiences for the arts by presenting contemporary, innovative work at affordable ticket prices. For more information, please visit www.bacnyc.org.

Baryshnikov Arts Center Acknowledgements

Leadership support for music programming in 2015 provided by the J.C. Flowers Foundation and the Thompson Family Foundation.

Baryshnikov Arts Center is grateful for the support of its generous individual and institutional annual fund donors in 2014--2015.

In Memory of Sophia Adams, Pierre Apraxine, Elena Aristova, Jason R. Baron, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lisa Rinehart, Tina and Jeffrey Bolton Family Fund, Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey S. Borer, Catherine Brennan, Clyde Brownstone, Frank and Monique Cordasco, Richard and Jennie DeScherer, Joseph and Diana DiMenna, James H. Duffy, Ehrenkranz Family Foundation, Barbara Fleischman, Sandra Foschi, Paola Gianturco, Jon Gilman & Brad Learmonth, Slavka B. Glaser, Louise Guenther, Agnes Gund, Dr. Ayele Hadero, Brian and Tania Higgins, Roger and Joan Hooker, Huong Hoang, Fredericka Hunter, Colleen Keegan, Donald M. Kendall, Paul and Teresa Kim, Joan Konner and Alvin Perlmutter, Herman Krawitz, Sali Ann Kriegsman, Mark Ladner and Julie Ross, Dr. Christopher and Eleanor Lange, Jarrett and Maritess Lilien, Jane Lipton, Jane & Richard Mescon, In Honor of Natalie Moody, Aidan Mooney, Irina Pavlova, Steven and Michèle Pesner, Aidan and Elizabeth Quinn, John S. Rockwell, Leslie Ruff, Dorothy Scheuer, Wallace Shawn, Jeremy Smith, Christina Sterner, Jennifer Tipton, Ian and Jack Archer Watters, Mary Waters, and Suzanne Weil.

Affirmation Arts Fund, The AG Foundation, Anonymous, Capezio-Ballet Makers Dance Foundation, Citizens of Humanity, The Enoch Foundation, J.C. Flowers Foundation, Ford Foundation, Marshall Frankel Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Irving Harris Foundation, Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust, Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Kaye Foundation, Kent-Lucas Foundation, The Lupin Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts/National Dance Project, New York Community Trust, Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation, Princess Grace Foundation-USA, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, James E. Robison Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Thompson Family Foundation, Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the Walter Family Foundation.

Baryshnikov Arts Center is also grateful for support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Funding is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Yamaha is the official piano of the Baryshnikov Arts Center.

As of February 18, 2015